Continued...

Rákóczi, noble Hungarian family that played an important
role in the history of TRANSYLVANIA and Hungary in the 17th and 18th cent.
Sigismund Rakoczi, 1544-1608, was elected (1607) prince of Transylvania to
succeed Stephen Bocskay. His son, George I Rakoczi, 1591-1648, was elected
prince of Transylvania in 1630. He continued the anti-Hapsburg policy of his
predecessors, Gabriel Bathory and Gabriel Bethlen, and like them he relied on
alliances with the Protestant powers. In 1644 he declared war on Emperor
Ferdinand III and overran Hungary. Peace was made (1645) at Linz, and the
emperor granted religious freedom to the Hungarians and
ceded territory to Rakoczi. George I's son, George II Rakoczi, 1621-60,
succeeded his father on the throne of Transylvania but was deposed (1657) as a
result of his unsuccessful invasion of Poland. He was mortally wounded when the
Turks invaded Transylvania. He married Sophia, a niece of Gabriel Bathory.
Their son. Francis I Rakoczi, 1645-76, was designated George's successor by the
diet of Transylvania in 1652. However, he was never recognized. Having married
a daughter of Peter ZRINYI, ban of Croatia, he entered with Zrinyi into an
unsuccessful conspiracy against Emperor Loopold I. Francis II Rakoczi,
1076-1735, the son of Francis I and Helen Zrinyi, became the leader of the
rebellion of the Hungarians against Hapsburg oppression. The outbreak (1701) of
the War of the Spanish Succession was followed by an uprising (1703) of the
Hungarian peasants, particularly of the Calvinists, against the emperor.
Rakoczi, at the head of the movement, soon controlled most of Hungary and in
1704 was elected "ruling prince" by the diet. He secured the support of King
Louis XIV of France, who supplied him with subsidies and troops.[15] At the Diet of Onod (1707) the Hungarian
nobles proclaimed the Hapsburg dynasty deposed in Hungary and set up an
aristocratic republic. Rakoczi, however, suffered severe defeats in 1708 and
1710, and in 1711 the Hungarians aud Austrians negotiated peace at Szatmar. The
emperor promised an amnesty and the restoration of religious and constitutional
freedom in Hungary. Rakoczi, who refused to accept the treaty, fled to Poland,
then to France, and eventually to Turkey. He died in exile in Turkey, but his
remains were brought back to Hungary in 1906. He left an autobiography. Francis
II Rakoczi is a major national hero of Hungary. The stirring Rakoczi March,
named in his honor, was composed (1809) by John Bihari. It is possibly based on
an older tune, sung by Rakoczi's army and was used by Berlioz in his
Damnation de Faust and by Liszt in the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15.
The playing of the Rakoczi March was long forbidden in Hungary, where the tune
was used as a national air by the independence movement. (See Ladislaus
Hengelmuller, Hungary's Fight for National Existence, -Engl. tr. 1913)

Bethlen, Gabriel, Hung. Bethlen Gábor, 1580-1629, prince of
Transylvania (1613-29). He was chief adviser of Stephen BOCSKAY and was elected
prince after the assassination of Gabriel BATHORY. A Protestant, though
tolerant towards all religions, he allied himself (1619) with FREDERICK THE
WINTER KING and overran Hungary, of which he was elected king (1020). After the
Bohemian defeat at the White Mt. (1620), he signed with Emperor FERDINAND II
the Treaty of Nikolsburg (1621), by which he renounced the royal title but
retained control of seven Hungarian counties and received the rank of prince of
the empire. He continued his relations with the Protestant powers opposing the
emperor in the Thirty Years War and married the Sister of the elector of
Brandenburg; however, he kept the interests of Transylvania paramount. He was a
wise administrator and encouraged the development of law and learning.

Transylvania, Ger. Siebenbürgen, Hung. Erdély, Rumanian
Transilvania or Ardeal, historic province (24,009 sq. mi.; pop.
3,420,829[16]) in central Rumania.
CLUY (Ger. Klausenburg, Hung. Kolozsvár) is the chief city. A high
plateau, Transylvania is separated in the south from Wallachia by the
TRANSYLVANIAN ALPS and in the east from Moldavia and Bukovina by the
CARPATHIANS (of which the Transylvanian Alps are a continuation). In the north
and west it borders on Crisana-Maramures, in the southwest on the Banat. The
Transylvanian plateau, 1,000 ft. to 1,600 ft. high, is drained by the Mures,
the Olt, and the Somes, all tributaries of the Danube. Its climate is
continental. Economically and culturally the most advanced part of Rumania,
Transylvania is rich in natural resources, including lignite, methane, iron,
manganese, lead, and sulphur, and it has the chief metallurgical and chemical
industries of Rumania. Other industries are textile manufacturing, food
processing, and lumbering. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production, and
fruitgrowing are important occupations. Next to Cluj, BRASOV and SIBIU are the
principal cities. Of the total population, 1,015,947 are Hungarian- speaking
and 157,715 are German- speaking. The Rumanian population is largely rural,
while the Magyar and German minorities are mostly concentrated in the cities.
The area now constituting Transylvania was part of the province of DACIA under
the Roman Empire. It was overrun, between the 3d and 10th cent. A.D., by the
Visigoths, the Huns, the.Gepidae, and the Avars, and it was contested in the
10th and 11th cent. between the Petchenegs and the Magyars (Hungarians), who
finally incorporated it into Hungary. It is not known whether the SZEKELY, a
Turkic people who adopted the Magyar language, came into Transylvania with or
before the Magyars. The Szekely were the ancestors of most of the
Magyar-speaking population of Transylvania. In the 12th and 13th cent. the
kings of Hungary settled large numbers of German colonists in Transylvania,
where they were active in building fortified towns, The German settlers and
their descendants were (and still are) called Saxons, although they came from
various parts of Germany. The German influence became more marked when, early
in the 13th cent., King Andrew II of Hungary called on the Teutonic Knights to
protect Transylvania from the Cumans, who were followed (1241) by the Mongul
invaders under Batu Khan. At that period also begun the penetration of
Transylvania by the Rumanians, called Vlachs or Wallachians, a penetration
which continued for centuries. The Vlachs were, for the most part,
semi-nomadic shepherds, but most of them soon settled down to agriculture. The
administration of Transylvania was in the hands of a royal governor, called
voivode, who by the mid-13th cent. controlled all the seven Transylvanian
counties. Society was divided into three priviliged "nations," the Magyars, the
Szekely, and the Saxons. These "nations," however, did not correspond to
strictly ethnical but rather to social divisions. Although the nonprivileged
class of serfs consisted mostly of Vlachs, it also included people of Saxon,
Szekely, and Magyar origin, while on the other hand many VIachs assimilated
with the Magyars and joined the ranks of the nobility. Thus John Hunyadi, hero
of the Turkish wars of the 15th cent. 'and father of King Matthias Corvinus,
was of Rumanian origin[17]. After the
suppression (1437) of a peasant revolt, the three "nations" solemnly renewed
their union; the rebels were cruelly punished and serfdom became more firmly
entrenched than ever. When the main Hungarian army and King Louis II were slain
(1526) in the battle of MOHACS, the troops of John Zapolya, voivode of
Transylvania, were saved from destruction through their tardiness. Zapolya took
advantage of his military strength and put himself at the head of the
nationalist Hungarian party, which opposed the succession of Ferdinand of
Austria (later Emperor Ferdinand I) to the Hungarian throne. As JOHN I, he was
elected king of Hungary, while another party recognized Ferdinand. In the
ensuing struggle Zapolya received the support of Sultan Suleiman I, who after
Zapolya's death (1540) overran all central Hungary on the pretext of protecting
Zapolya's son, JOHN II. Hungary was now divided into three sections -Western
Hungary, under Austrian rule; central Hungary, under Turkish rule; and
semi-independent Transylvania, where Austrian and Turkish influences fought for
supremacy for nearly two centuries. The Hungarian magnates of Transylvania
resorted to policy of duplicity in order to preserve independence. The BATHORY
family, which came to power on the death (1571) of John II, ruled Transylvania
as princes under Ottoman, and briefly under Hapsburg, suzerainty until 1602,
but their rule was interrupted by the incursion of MICHAEL THE BRAVE of
Wallachia and by Austrian military intervention. In l604 Stephen BOCSKAY led a
rebellion against Austrian rule, and in 1606 he was recognized by the emperor
as prince of Transylvania. He also obtained recognition of religious freedom in
Hungary. The Reformation had been widely accepted throughout Transylvania
except by the Orthodox Rumanians. The principality was the chief center of
Hungarian culture and humanism, and it was the only country in Europe at that
period where Roman Catholics, Orthodox Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans and
Unitarians, lived in mutual tolerance. Under Bocskay's successors - among whom
the most notable were Sigismund RAKOCZI, Gabriel Bathory, Gabriel BETHLEN,
George I and George RAKOCZI II, Emeric THOKOLY, and Francis RAKOCZI II -
Transylvania vainly sought to shake off the growing Austrian influence, and its
alliance with Turkey under Thokoly and with France under Francis II Rakoczi
proved fatal to its independence. In 1711 Austrian control was definitely
established over all Hungary and Transylvania, and the princes of Transylvania
were replaced by Austrian governors. The proclamation (1705) of Transylvania as
a grand principality was a mere formality. In the revolutionary years 1848-49
the Rumanians rose against the Magyar national state established by the
revolutionists; they were aided by Austrian troops, who with the help of
Russian intervention put down the Hungarian republic of Louis Kossuth. A period
of Austrian military government followed (1849-60); while it was disastrous for
the Magyars, it greatly benefited the Rumanian peasants, who were given land
and otherwise favored by the Austrian authorities. However, in the compromise
(Ausgleich) of 1867 which established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy,
Transylvania was made an integral part of Hungary, and the Rumanians, after
having tasted equality, wore once more plunged into subjection to the Magyar
magnates. Transylvania was seized by Rumania after the First World War and was
formally ceded by Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon (1920). The expropriation of
the estates of the magnates and the distribution of the lands to the Rumanian
peasants was a major cause of friction between Hungary and Rumania. It was now
the turn of the Magyar and German nationalists to complain of Rumanian
oppression. During the Second World War, Hungary annexed (1940) the northern
part of Transylvania, which was, however, restored to Rumania after the war. A
large number of the Transylvanian "Saxons" fled to Germany as displaced persons
before the arrival of the Russian armies. (See Ladislas Makkai, Histoire de
Transylvanie, 1946, in French).

Kossuth, Louis, Hung. Kossuth Lajos, 1802-94, Hungarian revolutionary
hero. Born of a Protestant family and a lawyer by training, he entered politics
as a member of the diet and soon won a large following for his liberal and
nationalist program; he did not shrink from the possibility of dissolving the
union of the Hungarian and Austrian crowns. He was arrested in 1837, but
popular pressure forced the Metternich regime to release him in 1840. Kossuth,
a fiery orator, was one of the principal figures of the Hungarian revolution of
March, 1848. When, in April, Hungary was granted a separate government, Kossuth
became finance minister. Kossuth continued and intensified his anti-Austrian
agitation. His extreme nationalism, which was opposed to the fulfillment of the
national aspirations of the Slavic, Rumanian, and German minorities in Hungary,
was particularly resented in Croatia. When the Austrian government, supported
by the ban of Croatia, JELLACICH DE BUZIM, prepared to move against Hungary,.
Kossuth became head of the Hungarian government of national defense and virtual
dictator. His government withdrew to Debrecen before the advance of the
Austrians under WiNDISCHGRAETZ. In April, 1849, it declared Hungary an
independent republic and Kossuth became president. The Hungarians won several
victories, but in 1849 Russian troops intervened in favor of Austria, and
Kossuth was obliged to resign the government to General GORGEY. The Hungarian
surrender at Vilagos marked the end of the republic. Kossuth fled to Turkey.
After visiting England and the United States, where he received ovations as a
champion of liberty, Kossuth lived in exile in England and (after 1885) in
Italy. He unsuccessfully tried to stir up risings in Hungary in 1859 and 1866.
He was dissatisfied with the Ausgleich of 1807, by which the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy was created, and he refused an offer of amnesty in 1890. After his
death at Turin, Italy, his body was brought to Budapest and buried in state.

Horthy de Nagybanya, Nicholas, Hung. Nagybányai Horthy
Miklós, 1868- [1957] , Hungarian admiral and statesman. He commanded the
Austro-Hungarian fleet in the First World War. After Bela Kun seized (1910)
power in Hungary, the counterrevolutionist government put Horthy in command of
its forces. When the Rumanian force, that had defeated Kun evacuated Budapest
(Nov., 1019), Horthy entered it and in 1920 was made regent and head of the
state. He checked two attempts (March and Oct., 1021) of Emperor CHARLES I to
regain his throne in Hungary, once by persuasion and once by armed force.
Charles was then formally barred from the throne, and Horthy found himself
regent of a kingless kingdom. A nationalist and distinctly inclined toward the
right, he guided Hungary through the years between the two world wars, but left
he actual management of government to his premiers, notably Stephen BETHLEN and
Julius GOMBOS. his influence diminished after the death (1936) of Gombos. The
succeeding premiers, Koloman Daranyi (1936-38), Bela Imredy (1938-39), and Paul
TELEKI (1939-41), brought Hungary into the Axis, and after Teleki's suicide
Hungary entered the Second World War. Despite Horthy's opposition, German
troops occupied Hungary in March, 1944. When Russian troops entered Hungary,
Horthy sent an armistice commission to Moscow and announced (Oct., 1944) the
surrender of Hungary. The Germans immediately forced Horthy to countermand his
order and to resign. He fled to Bavaria, where he was captured (1943) by
American troops. Released several months later he retired to a country house
near Munich[18].

In the foregoings two places and eighteen persons (three family names including
more than one notable family members) that could be considered important
mile-posts in Hungary's history. The first seven are related: they all belong
to Hungary's first ruling dynasty, the House of Arpad. The Árpáds
were in power for over 300 years. Hungary was established as a major European
power in this period. When in 1186 Bela III married the daughter of Louis VII
of France (Margaret Capet, widow of crown prince Henry of England) the
assessment of the royal income has shown Hungary to be the richest kingdom in
Europe.[19]

These selections were made in a somewhat arbitrary manner. Some could have been
dropped in favor of a few other equally notable persons. Overall, this list of
twenty names can be considered a measure of qualitative rating of a general
history book. If all the twenty names could be found, the book would give a
superior coverage of Hungarian history. Even ten items mentioned may be called
an acceptable coverage. Less than that, and a charge may be made of shabby
coverage of Hungary's history. One could argue that this is a matter of
personal choice of the respective authors. It can be countered by a question:
In contrast, how extensively did the writer discuss the marital difficulties of
Henry VIII? Were they really that consequential in their influence on the
history of Europe? The arguments could go on.